Take a pair of siblings of Scottish descent, one a pianist who studied jazz at Columbia, the other a fiddler with a love for traditional Celtic music. Then, mix in a bassist with a funk background, and a drummer immersed in Latin rhythms.

What could possibly go wrong? Or more precisely, what the heck is the end result?

Alba’s Edge is the quartet that includes all that and more, and what they produce is something loosely defined as progressive Celtic music. Alba’s Edge will be performing Sunday night at Club Passim in Cambridge, and to make the night even more eclectic their openers will be Ezekiel’s Wheel, a Boston klezmer quintet that got its start busking in Beantown subway stations.

In March this year, Alba’s Edge performed on a tour of Mexico, sponsored by the State Dept., which sought to present the American approach to Celtic music. The idea was to show music fans in Mexico some American music that was not mainstream, and it all was capped off with a St. Patrick’s Day show in Mexico City.

Neil Pearlman is the leader of Alba’s Edge. Born in Boston, his family moved to Portland, Maine soon after, and he and his younger sister Lily Pearlman grew up with sounds of music, particularly Scottish music, suffusing their daily life. Their mother was a traditional Scottish dancer in fact, but Neil felt the pull of modern jazz, and so left for the Ivy League school in New York City.

“I had played all the various Scottish and Celtic music growing up, but I really liked jazz,” said Neil from a weekend stop at his parents’ home in Maine. “I wanted to be in New York City for the jazz scene, and the opportunities to play out, and also because Columbia has a small but very good jazz department. I liked the dense chordings, and rhythmic variety of jazz, but I had always loved the beautiful melodies of Scottish music. I wanted to write music that encompassed all of that.”

Lily took up the fiddle and immersed herself in traditional Celtic music, but she also pursued her dancing ambitions too, graduating with a degree in Modern Dance. Through her study of dance, Lily ended up spending a semester in Brazil studying that nation’s dances, but also falling in love with Brazilian music, Afro-Cuban, and other Latin rhythms.

As the guy with the Scottish traditional background in a class full of jazz aficionados, Neil was in a unique position. Gradually he began to yearn for more chances to incorporate the trad sounds into jazz. One of his schoolmates at Columbia was bassist Doug Berns, who came out of a funk background but grew to love the Celtic stuff. At some point, Neil realized he needed to recruit Lily to help him seek out the blend of old trad/new jazz he was exploring.

Page 2 of 3 - “I got to play a lot in traditional settings, as a sideman,” Neil recalled. “I think I was usually hired because my take on that music brings in other influences, like the jazz feel for improvisation. I’ve played in a lot of styles, but Alba’s Edge is the clearest representation of what I want to do. The addition of the bass and drums, to Lily and I, really fleshes it out.”

The final piece in the puzzle was a drummer, and Jacob Cole, a Californian who’d just graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music, was the perfect choice. Cole played jazz, but really specialized in Latin rhythms, and his work really gives the band a potent kick.

“Jacob really brings in a depth of experience in Latin rhythms and Latin jazz,” said Neil. “Jacob spent a year in a music conservatory in Puerto Rico, before he came to the New England Conservatory.”

“Doug, of course, is a funk guy, and one of his other projects is a band called MSA, an Afro-beat band from New York City that often works with Antibalas, the well-known worldbeat group,” Neil added. “In fact Doug is in Europe with them right now, so we have a substitute bassist this week, Charles Derthoud, an Englishman with a great funk feel.”

It sounds like a fascinating mixmaster of styles new and old. But does it work? The tunes from the new Alba’s Edge EP certainly give traditional music a contemporary kick, without sacrificing those hypnotically lovely melodies. But it remains a tough sale for prospective venues.

“Our major hurdle is getting people to listen,” Neil admitted. “The music and the show makes a lot more sense when you hear it. It does sound like a crazy mix of ideas, but we like to think it’s a new perspective and it works. We have an eclectic group of fans, for sure, a number of Celtic and folk fans who like to sit and listen, although it is predominantly dance music. But jazz fans can appreciate the improv elements, and rock fans will find plenty of energy in it. If you want to listen or dance, we think our music will be appealing.”

While their EP is their entree to bigger and better gigs for now, Alba’s Edge is aiming to record a full-length album this year. The Pearlmans and their band are more devoted than ever to forging their own musical path, and also convinced Boston is the home base that can embrace them.

“There is such a wonderful community of Celtic music and Celtic musicians in Boston, that was the primary reason I moved there after college,” said Neil Pearlman. “Our music can work in different contexts and venues, and Boston has been very welcoming.”

Page 3 of 3 - The connection between Alba’s Edge and Ezekiel’s Wheel is a simple one: one of the klezmer band’s fiddlers, Jonathan Cannon, was Neil Pearlman’s first roommate in Boston, and they remain friends. “We’ve done a double-bill before with them, at the Lily Pad in Cambridge,” Neil noted. “many people are familiar with klezmer music, but they bring a particular intensity to their approach that really resonates with contemporary fans.”

QUINCY HOMELESS BENEFIT: Braintree blues fan JoAnne Cullen has organized a grassroots kind of benefit concert to help the homeless. Sunday afternoon from 3-7 p.m. at South Shore Music Hall in Quincy, big-voiced blues singer Brian Templeton brings his Big Blue band to town, with numerous guests, including New England stars like Quincy’s own Johnny “Bluehorn” Moriconi on trumpet and vocals, guitarist Monster Mike Welch, bassist Mudcat Ward, keyboardist Bruce Bears, and saxman Scott Shetler among others. Should be a fabulous show, tickets are a mere $10, and all funds raised go to local homeless programs.

TATTOO CLUES: Allow us to dip into sports and news, as we were initially dubious when reports surfaced that investigators were seeking tattoo artists to see if accused ex-Patriot Aaron Hernandez might have marked his alleged crimes with new ink. Coincidentally, we were reading Martin Cruz Smith’s 2010 novel “Three Stations,” one of his fine series of mysteries featuring a Russian detective. Consider this character’s statement, as he examines a corpse for tattoos (page 158): “You can trust a criminal’s hide more than a banker’s business card. The (banker’s) card says he has offices in Moscow, London, and Hong Kong, even though he’s never been further than Minsk. But when a convict wears a tattoo for a crime he hasn’t honestly committed, other cons will tattoo ‘Liar’ right across his face..”